


Aliases

by stuckinthissinkingship



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, Band, College AU, F/M, Fluff, Fluffy, Geek!Michael, Hipster!Ashton, Love, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Multi, Name Changes, Romance, Sporty!Calum, Witness Protection, fluffty fluff fluff, punk!luke, sixth form AU, with a pinch of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-08 06:44:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3199400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stuckinthissinkingship/pseuds/stuckinthissinkingship
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5 seconds of summer. Possibly the hottest young band out at the moment, its not surprising really that they have gained so many fans, and possibly a few enemies. </p><p>So when an attempt is made upon the lives of the boys, they have to act fast to survive. This time however, it is their own identities making them unsafe.</p><p>They always thought the witness protection programme was a myth, at least until they became a part of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aliases

Ashton  
Ashton tugged at his newly dyed hair and smiled weakly at the other boys. It felt strange between his fingers. It felt like his hair but it didn't look like it anymore. It was far too dark. It was weirder to be in England now. Or maybe it was just the reason he was in England that was making him feel uneasy. He could hardly say that he had even heard of their situation happening before, let alone actually experienced it himself.  
“Okay guys. I'll see you at the house. Good luck on your first day at college and remember, you guys don't know each other. I'll see you at home tonight.” He rubbed his hands together before adjusting his satchel. He could tell that he was the most willing to go along with this and it wasn't only because all the other boys voiced their discomfort every few minutes. Especially Michael. He really wasn't looking forward to studying again. He could still hear him moaning as he walked away and started to look for the record store.

“I hate this stupid new identity thing. I didn't even get a cool name!” Michael grumbled quietly, but not quietly enough. Ashton laughed and shushed him over his shoulder, checking a scrap of paper he had tucked into his pocket. It was ratty and folded over about a thousand different ways, but he could still read the shop title scrawled on it. 'Vinyl Dreams.' He thought hat it sounded like a bit of an odd name, but he could understand where it came from. He rubbed at his sleeved and frowned. His new jumper was itching him and he missed his old clothes.

It had only been three weeks since they had been forced undercover, but it already felt too long. It was different now though, now they had to really convince people. He had convince everyone that he was Brett Penning, not Ashton Irwin. It sounded like a normal name, even if it was a bit pretentious. He saw the building coming towards him from the distance. His nerves were building and rather than feeling like he had one butterfly in his stomach, he felt like he had an entire swarm in there. He had to hide it though, at least some of it. No one turned up to their first day of work as nervous as he was. He was acting like someone might jump out and stab him at any second. Which in reality was an option.

He pushed open the door into the record store. A small bell rang out but he still felt the need to announce his arrival. Not that he could see anyone in the store. Perhaps he was just alone in this place. That would make some things easier for him, but a lot of things harder.

“Uhm, Hello?” He walked fully into the store and heard some movement from the back room. It sounded like high heels on a wooden floor. He'd heard his mom's enough times and it made him feel a little homesick if he was honest, not that he had enough time to focus on it before someone shouted back to him. It was a girl's voice, probably the owner of the high heels.

“Hang on, I'll be right out.” She called from the back room. There were a series of bangs and crashes, but then she appeared in the doorway, just as she had promised to. But Ashton hadn't been expecting the beauty before him to own the voice he heard. She was small, but he guessed that's what the heels were for. It took him a short while to notice that though because he couldn't tear his eyes away from her face. She had large blue eyes, almost as large as those he would expect to see on one of the princesses in his sister's Disney films. Against her very pale skin they seemed to almost glow. Like they were lit from inside. Her bright red hair didn't help either. It seemed to add to the idea that she was alight in some way. Not on fire like the typical jokes made about redheads, but more like some kind of natural iridescence.

“I'm sorry can I help you? We're not really open right now.” The girl said softly and Ashton only then realised that she had an Irish accent, and that he had been staring at her for much longer than was socially acceptable.

“Sorry, I'm A-ah, uhm B-Brett.” He could have cursed himself a thousand different ways for almost giving himself away so soon. He wasn't Ashton Irwin anymore and he had to get that into his head. “I, uh am the new shop clerk?” He wasn't sure what his real job title was so he made one up that sounded like it would work. It was either a shop clerk or a shop assistant. He wasn't sure which, he'd been told but as per usual he hadn't been paying much attention. How he wished he'd paid that attention now, but the girl just smiled at him. It was as if she had been expecting that answer.

“Hello then Brett. My dad warned me that we had a new member of staff starting today. He didn't tell me that he had a stutter though.” She chuckled and pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She seemed to Ashton that she wasn't sure what to say or do. “I don't mean that as an insult, its just I noticed.” She was blushing almost as dark as her hair and Ashton felt bad. He didn't have a stutter, but looking at her he didn't have the heart to tell her.

“N-No, Its fine. I p-promise.” He faked a stutter and surprised even himself with how good he was at it. He figured he could keep this up for as long as he was working in the shop. It would be a bit annoying and he would have to constantly remind himself to do it, but if it stopped this girl, Flora, looking so sad he would do It. He was just too nice sometimes. He ran another hand through his hair and pushed his thick rimmed glasses up his nose.

“Okay then Brett. I guess that I better start you off on something simple. There's a box of new Vinyls and cassettes in the back room. Could you put them on the shelves?” She gestured to the doorway that she had just appeared through. It seemed like he had been given a pretty simple job, only a moron could get it wrong. He sure hoped he wasn't a moron today. He walked into the small room and inhaled. It had an odd scent, he couldn't quite pin it down though. It was a mixture of old books and warm plastic. Regardless of the smell, he pulled open the box he guessed that she meant and almost laughed. It was full of Amnesia Vinyls.  
He picked up a packet of the vinyls and started to set them out. They were in the section labelled punk-pop. That idea both made him excited and depressed him a little. He was in half a mind to shift them across one section into the punk-rock vinyls, but that would probably look suspicious. He had been told to avoid anything with his face on or with his band on. It would be far too easy to recognize him from those things. He set the rest of the vinyls on the shelves and went in search of Flora. She was humming and stacking up other vinyls. He cleared his throat, making her jump about a foot in the air.  
“S-sorry. I just, I finished.” Ashton explained, finding it adorable how she had jumped at the noise. She however she had a very different view of the situation. She, judging by her face, wasn't much amused.  
“Finished what? Trying to kill me?” Ashton would have said that she was really mad with him, if he hadn't seen the smile playing at her lips. She burst into laughter and shook her head. “Lighten up Bretty boy.” She shook her head. “You wont last a day if you don't have a sense of humour.” She nudged him in the shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Come on, I'll show you how to work the POS.” She glanced at Ashton and saw how confused he looked. “The point of order system. The till.”

Ashton finally clinked and nodded. He felt like he was stupid all over again, this time just because this very pretty girl had to explain something so simple three times over. He'd worked in shops before, why had he forgotten this? It was like with all the new drumming things and fame things he was learning he had forgotten the basics of having a real job.  
He stood over her and watched as she showed him how to use the till. It was simple, even easier than a few he'd had to use in past jobs. Slowly he was starting to think that working might not be so bad, especially if she was here for the majority of his shifts. It wasn't just because she looked attractive. It was also because working alone really sucked. You had no one to make the time when the shop was empty fly past. And judging by the way this record store looked it would most probably be empty a lot of the time. It looked more like a vintage book store than a record store, with its dark brown wooden floors that creaked every few steps and the mottled wallpaper that seemed as it it had been ripped off and re-applied by hand. In one word he would have called it quaint. But he really just stayed silent. He didn't want to offend his boss' daughter on his first day. 

He ran his hand through his hair and watched one last time. “I t-think I might have g-gotten the hang of it n-now.” He looked at the buttons and smiled. She seemed to be indifferent though, she just stared out the window as if she was expecting a hoard of shoppers any second. Perhaps she was? Not that he could ever see this place being busy other than for the slushy machine in the corner. He imagined that would draw in a few customers when it was hot, as it would today. He glanced at the clock, he'd only been here for fifteen minutes. It felt like much longer. He wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. He guessed it was probably a bad thing.

“The busiest time is when the college kids get out for lunch, they go mad for all the slushies and a lot of the kids buy the more pop style vinyls or tapes.” She explained, having watched him looking at the clock. “Until then you can make yourself useful and pop the kettle on, I'm sure you know how to make a cup of tea. Or do I have to show you that too?”Ashton wanted to laugh but he knew his laugh was too distinctive so he tried to calm it down. Instead of sounding normal he sounded like a hyena. Luckily Flora didn't comment, she just looked at him. So he rushed away as fast as he could to make the hot drinks.

He sure hoped the other guys were doing as well as he seemed to be, maybe even better.


End file.
